The Everlight Charter

To fell a Stag

There mite be problems

The companions continued north to return to Oleg’s so they could plan their assault on the Stag Lords when they came across a giant dead tree out in the open. They approached and searched the tree finding a small doorway leading into the tree which they opened. The hole was small but just large enough so that they could descend the tunnel one by one using the rope that went down the hole. They descended the rope and after about thirty feet Clash reached a plateau, coming just around the corner were a group of mites, terrified at the site of Clash. He pointed at their weapons and motioned for them to drop them, to which they erupted in a battle frenzy and attacked. Roarsh reached the landing and immediately splattered one of the mites, yelling at Clash to attack. The mites were no match as even more of the group arrived and attacked, so they turned and ran. The group followed suit and came into a large chamber where several mite were torturing a Kobold. They waded into the mites and began laying them low. They were no match for the companions and fell without much of a fight, until a giant centipede crawled up from the open cavern and attacked. Its long tail proved a problem for the group, but they managed to kill it. They healed the Kobold on the table and released it, who introduced itself as Mikmek. He explained that there was an ongoing war between the mites and the Kobolds, for the mites had stolen a sacred relic of theirs and he was tasked with getting it back. They led the kobold out and ran into a reserved group of mites with their leader riding on a giant tick. The battle was short and the mites were slain, after which they searched the complex finding the sacred relic Mikmek was looking for. The charter requested that the violence of the Kobolds was put to an end, but this relic was obviously evil, and they didn’t want to return a foul relic back to the hands of an evil race. They told Mikmek that if the Kobolds promised to resign themselves to where they lived and vowed to never harm travelers in the stolen lands, they would turn the idol over to their leader. Mikmek led the group to the area where the Kobolds dwelled; there they met with their shaman Tartuk. He vowed that the violence would end, and that he would put an end to the non-believers who doubted his power. The group returned the idol and headed back to Oleg’s. A few days later they came across a rocky area with glints of gold strewn within them. They checked the rocks and found that this area would be a very profitable gold mine if worked efficiently. A few days more and they reached Oleg’s, where they rested from their long travels.

Dead promises

They loaded up two mules full of trail rations and supplies and headed out south to continue their exploration. They spent weeks exploring the stolen lands and charting down everything they found. The journey was almost boring except for the Shambling mound that came into camp one night and devoured a mule and almost killed Clash. Almost a month later on the trip, they crested the top of a large rolling hill to see what appeared to be a fort next to a large body of water. Smoke rose from the fort, and they all knew what it was; it was the Stag Lords forts. They now knew where to strike, so they headed back north, careful to continue mapping along the way. They came across what looked to be a burnt down crossing on the river, and forded into the river. As they pulled themselves onto the shore, they looked back to see a water logged ghost approaching Alabaster. Roarsh asked what it wanted, and it replied “The body of the Stag Lord ”. Roarsh agreed and it turned and sank into the water.

and all its dangers...

Sciferous told the group that he would be parting ways with them, for he needed to return home, and tell them of the ruins they had found. They all said their good-byes, and went on their way. Upon arriving at Oleg’s, the group explained of the events that had befallen them and asked that they look after Jessira. Oleg and Svetlana told of how the bandit activity had increased since they had been gone for months, and their supply lines had been getting raided. A fever set in on Alabaster, from an infected bite of a rat in the sewers and he was bedridden. Roarsh decided to stay and watch over Alabaster while Clash and Gavrosh decided to head back out into the stolen lands for a few days and do some more scouting. They encountered a bone yard and the nest of a rather large and hungry spider. They killed the spider and searched his nest to find a body of a bandit, who wore the Stag Lord pendant around his neck. They returned home after a week to find not only Alabaster back on his feet, but the Lady Jessira awake and being nursed back to health. They arranged for Kesten Garess to take her back to her parents in New Stetven, checked their gear and finally got back to take on the Stag Lord once and for all.

The Pestilent Claw: Part 4

The group wanted to continue after the cleric, and put an end to her vile magic once and for all, but Alabaster told the group he would not travel any further without praying to his Goddess. Even in the depths of those wretched sewers, Alabaster could feel the radiant warmth of Sarenrae restoring his soul, and burning away the taint of battling fiends so vile. While he said his prayers, Gavrosh and Clash decided to look around in some of the adjoining rooms, so a few of them ventured out leaving Roarsh and Sciferous to guard over the praying Alabaster. One of the adjacent rooms appeared to be a torture room/jail. There was fresh blood on one of the racks, and bloody footprints leading out into another room. They followed the tracks into a store room with various goods and food, the tracks continued on out the door into a giant open cavern. A stairwell led down into the black, and Clash and Gavrosh heard a scream from down below. Even though Gavrosh’s heart urged him to rush to the aid of whomever was in need, they decided to wait for the rest of the group; for they were still weary and battered from the nights constant fighting. Returning to the main hall, they searched the room for anything of worth. Aside from the obvious loot; the throne radiated magic, but was also magically warded. After checking the throne thoroughly, they found a hidden locked compartment, which they asked Dexter to pick for them. He wanted to know what was in it for him, so they began bickering for awhile over the cut. Finally Alabaster finished his prayers and intervened, deciding that he would owe Dexter a favor for this task. He picked the lock and disarmed the trap, opening it to reveal the life savings of the Pestilent Claw, around 10,000 GP. They stashed their gear and Alabaster began to heal the wounds of the group. Once the group had been healed, they all continued to follow the footprints down into the depths. At the bottom of the stairs, the path led into un-worked natural stone. They followed this pathway into a hollowed out chamber that appeared to have been turned into some unholy sacrificial chamber dedicated to the vile Gods. Some hundred feet or so ahead, was a thirty foot in diameter focusing chamber supported by crumbling pillars. In the back on a filthy demonic altar, lay young woman no more than eighteen years old, wracked in pain, her hair curling in the air as if she was being electrocuted. Over her stood the cleric of Lamashtu performing some unholy rite to her vile Goddess. Gavrosh ran forward and let fly an arrow that should have landed square in her back, but just as the arrow was about to pass beyond the perimeter of the focusing chamber, the air crackled with arcs of evil red electricity, destroying the arrow. The rest of the group ran forward and entered the focusing chamber. There was a smell of sulfur and a thick cloud wafted ever so slightly on the floor. The cleric began to rise, levitating up in the air. She began summoning demons to fight the heroes, while she ascended out of their range. The apprentice appeared from the back as her invisibility spell wore off, and she began assaulting the group with spells. Every round the cleric created another illusory double of herself, and then summoned another demon. The fighting waged on and things were looking very grim, as the cleric would cast out waves of negative energy on everyone in the group. While Dexter, Roarsh, Clash and Sciferous engaged one demon, Morzug, Gillus, and Alexite battled another. Alabaster focused on his Goddess’s healing, surging it out onto the group, barely keeping them from death. Finally they felled the last demon and converged on the apprentice, the cleric descending to the floor to give aid. Gavrosh (who up to this point had done little other than inspire his companions) seized the moment to be courageous and rushed to the altar. The altar was covered in tiny faces of demons whose mouths were leaking some smelly fluid, and emanated an aura of profane evil. He looked at the woman on the altar, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but that beauty was temporarily hidden behind a face contorted in pain and agony. He swallowed heavily, remembering what the suit of armor had done to him, and couldn’t even begin to imagine how utterly terrible touching this infinetly more wicked and debased thing could ruin him. He said a quick prayer to Cayden Cailean and heroically pulled her from its vile grasp. The sheer evilness and power would have killed lesser men, but Cayden Caylean must have leant a bit of fortune, for he gritted his teeth, and pushed out the visions of the abyss that flooded his mind. The energy screamed in his head for but a moment of weakness for it to pounce on the Bards soul and rend it to pieces. He fought through it and freed Jessira from its taint. This act angered the priestess so much she screamed in malice and focused everything she had on the Gavrosh. He steeled his mind and pushed away the spell that almost took him, cast by the acolyte. But then she released a savage blast of negative energy that dropped him to the ground, still holding tightly to the Noblewoman. The priestess then moved in for the kill. She wanted more than anything to destroy the Bard who had ruined her plans, she lunged past all of Gavrosh’s friends. In a blink of an eye, they all saw Gavrosh’s last moment on the Material plane. But they said no, and in that blink of an eye, each struck a blow to her that not only ruined the spell, but dropped her bleeding on the floor. The battle was soon won. They healed Gavrosh and the others who had fallen in combat, but poor Jessira couldn’t be woken. Roarsh put everything he had into his swings as he went about demolishing that wicked altar, and soon it was just rubble. The group collected their things and got out of the den, soon finding the secret exit that led out into the countryside of New Stetven. The group soon parted company of Dexter and his men, and set out on the road to Oleg’s.

The Pestilent Claw: Part 3

Dexter called the group to quiet down, looking across the chasm and broken bridge to what appeared to be a light source coming from around the corner. They were trapped on the stairway leading up to the large double doors that housed the den of thieves. Clash and Morzug ran to shove the doors open, but they were stuck, probably lodged shut on the inside from fallen debris. Several thieves rounded the dark corner with lanterns in hand; seeing the group trapped they pulled their bows and began to fire. Gavrosh pulled his bow out and let lose an arrow that landed in the eye of one rogue, dropping him instantly. Half the group began shoving the doors, while the others laid arrow fire on the rogues across the chasm. After a few moments the doors gave way, and they hurried into the room seeking refuge from the hail of arrows. The inside of the den’s floor was strewn with debris and downed thieves. Standing about the room were several thieves checking on fallen comrades, or more likely looting the coins from their belt pouches. The group rushed towards the thieves trying to take advantage of the surprise, but the debris made movement difficult. Towards the back of this large room was a huge throne, and on it sat a large were rat. Upon seeing the group, he hefted a large flail and began to move towards them, issuing commands to the rest of the thieves. The battle was joined by a cleric of Lamashtu, and her apprentice sorceress. The battle was long and dangerous, and the group was almost out of magic from the nights constant battling. When it was all said and done, everyone of the group survived and the Cleric and apprentice escaped through one of the doors in the back.

The Pestilent Claw: Part 2

The group fell for what seemed like an eternity, but what in reality was only a few seconds. Then came the splashes as one by one they were engulfed in icy water, swirling along with the current. Still unable to see in this frigid nightmare, one by one they fought to emerge to the surface and suck down a desperate breath of air. The current was strong and continued to pull them along as splashes all around them continued their report that the roof above was not yet done yielding stone. After a few minutes, Gavrosh found rocky footing and trudged up onto whatever land this was. He collapsed onto the wet stones exhausted, grabbed a small stone and began to speak words to it through gasping breaths. The stone began to glow and brilliant white light pierced the veil of darkness, as he heard voices shouting from the water. Just as this happened another light sprang up some forty feet away, revealing Alabaster holding a stone close to his heart in his left hand, while whispering a prayer to his Goddess and holding her holy symbol in his right. The name Corbin was yelled by Morzug, as he flailed around in the water. This immediately rang a bell in Gavrosh’s mind, for he had heard the name before. Corbin was an assassin in the lands of Falcons Hollow and had some troubles there, escaping into the night barely avoiding the local law authorities, as well as the Hell Knights. Dexter was none other than Corbin Two Coppers, infamous criminal, and highly wanted man. One by one the rest of the men were pulled from the water, much more easily done now with the light sources. A few more lights were created, and the group huddled in a vast cavern. They stood near a forgotten and ancient temple, built by what looked like Githyanki. Gavrosh looked at Dexter, and said “Corbin Two Coppers huh?” Dexter flashed a murderous glare at Gavrosh and even fingered his sword. “I have killed men for knowing less” and looked at his men, as he pondered his next move. Gavrosh realized the extremely deadly situation that they were in and began to diffuse it as best he could. After several minutes of conversation and the group all pledging an oath to never speak the name of Corbin again, they continued on. They searched around and found an old, worn down stairway built into the side of the cavern leading up, and began their accent. As they made their way up, they reached the top which turned into a landing by a large, and ancient stone door. It was highly magical and extremely warded, so they decided that some things were best left alone. They looked up, and some forty feet above was what was left of the bridge they had been thrown from. They unpacked a rope and grappling hook, took aim and threw. It locked firmly on some stones and they were ready to climb. One by one they climbed up the rope, the more capable climbers going first to assist the less able men. The process was extremely dangerous, for once a person got on the slippery rope there was no going back, and failure meant death. Gavrosh almost fell off the rope twice, but barely managed to recover and make it up to the top. As Alabaster(who was the last man to climb) reached the top, they rechecked their gear and began to figure out how they would proceed through the large doors into the den of the Pestilent Claw.

The Pestilent Claw: Part 1

As Dexter appeared from the shadows, he detailed the problem they faced just around the corner, down the hall. In hushed tones, Dexter explained how they had come to the hideout of the main thieves guild in New Stetven, the Pestilent Claw. Thinking back on the nights events, and the constant battling while their guides led them through their “Safe” way out of the city, it all became clear. Dexter intended to use the group to help eliminate his competition, and it was too late to turn back. The sewers began to quake again, a short but violent jerk. It seemed the sewers were fast becoming unstable. Gavrosh being quite stealthy, he crept up to the corner and peered around it. Some sixty feet down the hall stood a guard, next to large double doors while another man lay passed out on a table. Gavrosh quietly told the group to follow his lead and stepped out from the shadows into the hall way speaking softly the words of a spell. Shocked, the guard grabbed for his sword and was about to sound the alarm, but it was too late; the spell had taken hold. The man suddenly believed with all his heart that Gavrosh was not an intruder, but a long time and dear friend. The spell was not powerful enough to impart memories of how they had met, just that he really liked and trusted this man approaching from the shadows. Gavrosh nonchalantly strolled foreword, smiling while he said “Hey buddy, how are you?” With a puzzled look on his face, the guard replied “Uhh…I’m good man. How are you?” Gavrosh knew the spell had work, but needed to tread carefully, for the other man passed out next to him was not under the spell, and God only knew what (or how man what and who) were behind the doors. He quickly fed the man a believable lie of how they had met months back at a bar, shared some beers and spoke of finding work. The man believed it and was put at ease as to why he couldn’t remember how he knew Gavrosh. Gavrosh explained how he had gotten lost down in the sewers, and took a seat at the table while sharing his flask with the man. He choose carefully as to sit in a chair that would force the guard to at least partially place his back to his friends, waiting just around the hall. He then began to share an enthralling tale of adventure to the man, while ever so gently weaving a magical fascination that made the guard listen intently, and ignore his surroundings. As he told this tale, he placed a carefully hidden message in it, one that Dexter would understand, but would pass right past the guards wits, and waited. A few moments later, Dexter emerged from the shadows as quiet and slowly as a ghost, right behind the guard. He pulled out a sap, positioned himself perfectly, and swung with all the force he had right into the back of the man’s head. The man crumpled towards the table, but Dexter caught him and gently lay him on the ground, without ever making a sound. Gavrosh stood, unsheathed his short sword and firmly thrust it into the neck of the sleeping man, he died instantly. He then threw the body down the large open chasm that separated the guard area from the hallway, and Dexter and he hurriedly carried the man back across the bridge around the corner to where the group waited. They tied the man up, checked their gear, and headed towards the doors. Just as they were about to enter and catch the den of thieves unaware, they began to open. There was nowhere to go, they were about to do battle with the dozen or so men they could see through the cracked doors, over a ledge to an abyss. Just then the cavern shook again, more violently than anything they had felt before. The roof above began to crumble around them and they were all knocked from the bridge, sent spiraling down below, into the unknown.

Through The Sewers

Dexter and his men; Morzug the half-orc, Alexite and Gillus lead the group through the stench filled sewers. Several hours of navigating the labyrinthine tunnels, they came upon a fork in the tunnels. Out of the shit filled water raised a large monstrous snake. They felled it after a short battle, and scanned the water for any possible magical treasure in the belly of the snake. They saw the glimmer of magic rolling along the bottom, and Gavrosh disgustingly waded into the filth. He nimbly brought the glowing object up to the surface with his foot, and pulled out a large egg. It was found to be a snake egg, under a magic spell that would mutate it into another abomination just like the other snake. Yet another example of the evil of Lamashtu’s followers workings. They said a quick prayer to Erastil to take back this spirit of nature, and Roarsh aborted the egg with his Lucerne hammer. They continued on and shortly after came upon a corpse laying next to a bag of scattered coins. They approached cautiously, and just as they had suspected, a trap was sprung. Men popped out from hiding spots and converged on their position. But even their well orchestrated attempt wasn’t enough for the group, and they were soon slaughtered. One female spell-caster fled from the scene, her unholy symbol dangling as she ran off. The group continued on, there resources heavily taxed from the night of constant skirmishing. An hour or so later, Dexter came back from his scouting and informed the group they had reached an impasse.

Enter Dexter...

The man spoke hidden under his cowl. His words implied intimate knowledge of the events that transpired with the Orlovsky family, and his understanding that the group needed a “discrete” exit from the city. After coming to an agreement of payment, the man introduced himself as Dexter, and set a time at night to meet and depart. They met that night and headed out through the slums. They came upon some armed men guarding the entrance of a warehouse, and quickly fell upon them. They entered the warehouse and fought through more men, killing their way through them all. One man bore profane armor of the evil Goddess Lamashtu, and grim foreshadowing of things soon to come.